


Family Business

by 21PilotsWithGuns, PinkOtaku_223



Series: Family Business [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Additional 1p 2p nyo 2pnyo characters namedropped, Adoption, Childhood Friends to Lovers, Found Family, Hanatamago Family, Hetabang 2020, Human AU, M/M, Modern AU, Two Shot, accidental crush on the boss, and, bring back hetalia 2020, bringbackhetalia2020, hetabang citrus, hetabang orange, it is actually a two shot plus epilogue now oops, might explore the story for one or two of them sometime, mostly to fill up the cast, past finland x countries relationships, rewrote the ending, shenanigans in stockholm, somewhere between, sorry arthur but you had to be to make this story work, tw bad guardian england, tw drinking, tw language: some mild to strong swears in northern languages, tw short discussion of dead and estranged parents, was gonna rate this gen but there is alcohol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:00:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23866399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/21PilotsWithGuns/pseuds/21PilotsWithGuns, https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkOtaku_223/pseuds/PinkOtaku_223
Summary: Tino Väinämöinen was sixteen when he realised he would never have a family.And it was all Berwald Oxenstierna's fault.
Relationships: Denmark/Norway (Hetalia), Finland & Sealand (Hetalia), Finland/Sweden (Hetalia), Sealand & Sweden (Hetalia)
Series: Family Business [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1719967
Comments: 12
Kudos: 35





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for: short discussion of dead and estranged parents, featuring of a bad guardian side character, drinking

Tino Väinämöinen was sixteen when he realised he would never have a family.

And it was all Berwald Oxenstierna's fault.

* * *

* * *

"And *hick* he looks so hot in his glasses," Tino complained.

Eduard, who sat opposite of him in the little booth, frowned. The bar was only dimly lit, but he could still clearly make out his cousin’s face where it rested in his left hand, while the right one gesticulated wildly, beer sloshing out of the glass he was holding. Tino had been ranting about his German ex-boyfriend for so long that Eduard had stopped really paying attention a few minutes ago, but he still noticed that Tino’s description of the guy didn’t fit what he remembered.

"Ludwig wears glasses?"

“Who?” the Finnish cousin asked bleary-eyed.

“Ludwig. Your ex you’re currently drinking to forget. Who were you talking- oh why am I even asking, you’ve been hung up on him for eight years.”

Tino made a noise of protest. 

“Not true!"

Eduard sighted. 

“The same thing happened when you broke up with that dutch guy-”

“Bram”

“Bram. You start out crying about them and suddenly it’s all about him. You have a problem, Tino. You can’t just date any tall blond man you come across!”

Tino was looking right past him.

“Are you listening to me?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You’re still in love with Berwald aren’t you?”

“Uh-huh.”

With a sigh, Eduard turned around to follow his cousin’s line of sight.

There, at the bar stood a — surprise — tall blond man. He was wearing a nice red shirt and smiling a goofy smile. 

He turned around to see Tino take a swig from his bottle and attempt to get up.

“Don’t. You’re too drunk for this. And I can see from here that he’s not even your type.”

Tino looked at him with a raised eyebrow. Or at least the drunk version of a raised eyebrow.

“M’ type?”

“He’s too cheerful. Not the Berwald type.”

That apparently just gave Tino more determination. With all his drunken might he pushed himself up and stumbled his way towards the man. Eduard scrambled to collect their respective valuables and to stop his cousin from making a fool of himself. But the Finn was already halfway across the bar by the time Eduard started following him.

“Tino!” He hissed- but was ignored. Tino was confidently approaching the man who had now noticed him. At least he was still smiling. 

“Come here often?” Tino slurred when he eventually reached the man.

He was rewarded for his efforts with a braying laugh and a string of gibberish.

“Oh wow, ok, and I thought I was drunk,” Tino snorted in reply.

“Ok, buddy, I can _snakke_ Norwegian for you, but I _vil ikke_ _bøye meg til_ Swedish.”

Eduard had finally caught up to his cousin.

“Come on Tino, let’s leave the nice Dane alone, hm?” 

He tried not to beg, not using the language the man seemed to despise so much. He didn't like antagonizing drunk men that were taller and stronger than himself. Tino was the safer option, even though he could still easily take him in a fight.

The stranger’s face immediately brightened

. “Oh, you’re Finnish?,” he asked, clearly mistaking Eduard’s native Estonian as the language of the neighbouring country.

“I am,” Tino smiled, completely ignoring what his cousin had said.

“I _liker_ you much better already!” He shouted, gesturing at the bartender to get Tino and Eduard a drink for his “new friends”.

Eduard on his part made sure that the bartender understood he still did not want any alcohol tonight. He had to make sure Tino got home safe in his current state.

“So, what are you doing in Stockholm if you hate Sweden so much?” Tino wanted to know once he had a new beer in his hands.

“Oh, I’m visiting my stupid brother with-” 

He was interrupted by a shorter, disgruntled looking man.

“Mathias, what the hell is taking you so long?” He demanded to know.

“Lukas! I made new friends!” He explained excitedly. 

Tino’s face fell when ‘Mathias’ grabbed the man’s hand affectionately.

‘Lukas’ eyed them sceptically.

“Since when do you make Swedish friends?”

“They’re Finnish!” Mathias declared.

“Actually, I’m Estonian-” Eduard started.

“Don’t listen to him, he’s been married to a Finn for years, andhe is my cousin,” Tino interrupted him.

Eduard just glared at him. Yes, he might have spent a lot of his childhood at Tino’s home, and yes he might have eventually fallen in love with and married Tino’s neighbour and now they had two children and lived in Finland together, but he was still very much Estonian at heart, thank you very much!

It turned out that Lukas and Mathias were surprisingly good company and could either hold their alcohol better than a sad Tino or had simply not drunk as much, and so it came that the four of them spent two more hours together at the bar before Eduard dragged Tino and Lukas dragged Mathias home.

* * *

“Oh, shut your face hole!” Was the first thing Tino said the next morning.

“I didn’t say anything!?” Eduard defended himself.

“Not you! The sun!”

“Oh. Sorry. I don’t know in which box you put your curtains.”

“Urgh.”

“First morning in a new flat and already hungover. I think that’s a first, even for you.”

“You don’t get to gloat, you didn’t even drink,” Tino complained.

“I’m too old to participate in such foolishness.”

“Oh, shut up, you sound like Roderich. And you’re not even thirty yet!”

“Who’s Roderich?” Eduard wondered.

“Oh, he’s Lutz’s-” Tino suddenly stopped at the mention of his ex. “Never mind.”

He turned around and went back to sleep.

Eduard sighed and decided to grab them some breakfast. The kitchen was not yet stocked, after all.

* * *

When he came back, Tino was still sound asleep. He sat the bag of sandwiches down on the kitchen table when from somewhere a phone started buzzing. It was Tino’s mobile which he had remembered to plug in the night before.

When he saw that it was a German number he knew that it was either someone from Tino’s old job or… worse, so he made a decision. Clicking on the green button he answered with a simple: 

“Hallo?”

Now, his German had never been the strongest of the languages he knew, but what he could gather from the other side was someone trying to inquire about Tino’s well-being, apologies, but most importantly, a name: Ludwig. Switching to English he informed the caller that he was, in fact, not his cousin.

“Oh. How is the kid doing?”

“Who wants to know?”

“I’m Ludwig’s brother. Gilbert. I think we met? Last December, on Tino’s birthday.”

“Oh. Yeah, I remember you.”

“Well… I wanted to check up on him… I know he doesn’t have a big support network…”

“He. Has. Me.” It was hard not to lose his temper.

A sigh. “Look, I’m sorry it had to come like this. Ludwig has made… bad experiences with long distance. And I do think he honestly wanted to try again with Tino, in fact, he told me as much but. When it came to it, he couldn’t do it.”

“Tell your brother he’s a coward-” Eduard hissed.

“Oh, believe me, I have,” came the hurried answer.

“-and don’t call again.” With that Eduard hung up on the man who felt it was his job to apologize on behalf of his younger brother. 

Pathetic, really. He didn’t have siblings, only his cousin, and yes, he would do everything to protect Tino, but his mistakes were his own.

Speaking of Tino, he thankfully hadn’t been woken up by the phone call but, Eduard decided, he had slept in long enough. He also wanted to eat his breakfast. So he walked up to him and shook him awake.

* * *

The day before Tino was due to start his new job was also his second full day living in Stockholm. He and Eduard had arrived at his new flat late Friday evening and right about the time they had brought up the last box Tino had found himself suddenly single. He had lived through his fair share of breakups, but he had never been broken up with via text. If he ever saw Ludwig Beilschmidt again, he would deck him. He had half a mind to make the trip back to Düsseldorf just to punch the guy. But alas the car they had rented to transport his meagre belongings to his tiny flat had been due to be returned in Stockholm that night. And after they did that Tino decided on the second-best option: getting hammered.

He did not remember most of what had happened that night, When Eduard had woken him up the next morning he was only left with the taste of a dead animal in his mouth and the desire to learn Norwegian. Maybe he’d check it out on Duolingo today.

But Eduard had left early on Sunday morning, and after accompanying his cousin to the airport Tino had decided not to go back home immediately but explore the city instead.

He liked to just wander the streets without a real destination and was rewarded for it with a sprawling park. The grass looked green, soft and inviting, and so he decided to lie down for a while in the shade of a tree, to rest his legs that were tired from walking the city all day.

He only noticed he had fallen asleep when he was woken up by something wet on his cheek.

When he opened his eyes, all he could see was white. Then the dog blinked its eyes open and continued licking his face.

“ _Blomma, nej_!” A deep voice called.

It took Tino a few seconds to fully wake up and remember where he was. Right. Sweden. Swedish. 

He slowly got back on his feet and saw that the dog was now looking away from him.

“Come back here, Blomma!”

He looked at the speaker and was about to tell him that it was fine, it was a cute dog, really, small and fluffy, when he choked on his breath.

There, with a leash in his hand and an apologetic expression on his face, was Berwald Oxenstierna.

Tino recognized him immediately, despite not having seen him for eight years. 

“Are you ok?” He sounded so concerned, so sweet. (At least to Tino, everyone else might have described the tone as ‘gruff’.) “She didn’t scare you badly, did she?”

“ _Ei,_ I mean, no, no not at all, I’m fine,” he reassured the man that had ruined his life.

‘ _He doesn’t recognize me._ ’ 

That thought hurt. 

That the boy- The man that he had been in love with for eight years felt so little for him that he wouldn’t even recognize him anymore-

But he had changed a lot, hadn’t he? He had been a pudgy teenager, and while not an Adonis by any means now, all that remained from that was a little belly. Berwald hadn’t changed. He was tall and strong, he even wore his hair the same style of hair and glasses! Tino was going to _faint._ Swoon right at his feet like a damsel in distress, and Berwald would think he was deathly afraid of his tiny, cute dog! 

‘ _Maybe he’d feel responsible and take care of you,’_ a tiny voice in his head suggested.

Berwald looked at him very concerned. Had he asked another question?

“I. I need to go. Bye Berwald.”

He turned around and ran before noticing his mistake. When he heard the faint:

“How do you know my name?” He wanted to kick himself. 

‘Great. Now he’s gonna think I’m a stalker or something.’

He didn’t turn around. He used his phone to find the fastest way home and when he made it there he sat on the floor in front of his door for a good thirty minutes.

Eventually, he decided to call Eduard. He didn't like having to disturb his family time so soon after he got back to them, but he really didn't have anybody else to call.

To his credit, Eduard picked up on the second ring.

"I told you it's a bad idea to have someone help you unpack," he sounded amused. "What are you looking for?" 

"No, Eduard, I… I saw him."

"What is Ludwig doing in Stockholm!? Did he talk to you?"

"No, not Ludwig; Berwald! And he didn't even recognize me!"

"Hang on. Berwald moved back to Sweden? I thought you were stalking his Facebook regularly!"

"It's not stalking! Only his profile picture is public anyway… But that's not even the worst thing! The worst thing is that I called him by his name when I ran away! Now he thinks I'm some creepy weirdo!" Tino moaned.

"You should friend him on Facebook," Eduard said matter of factly.

"WHAT? Don't be ridiculous. I don't even have Facebook. You know this!" Tino protested.

"Make one. With a nice profile picture. Come on Tino, this is your first chance in eight years with the guy! You should at least explain yourself to him, send him a little message."

"How would I even explain to him why I ran away earlier?"

"That's for you to figure out, I'm afraid. Good luck." And with that Eduard hung up.

" _Perkele,"_ Tino silently swore.

* * *

He did find the right words in the end. That was after he spent three hours trying to snap the perfect profile picture, though. 

The rest of the night Tino kept obsessively checking his new Facebook account to see if Berwald had accepted his friend request. But all he got was a request from his cousin. He didn't accept it right away to not confirm to Eduard what he was doing all night.

Eventually, he had to go to sleep, his new job was starting tomorrow, and he was determined to make a good impression.

* * *

By the next morning, there was still no reply from Berwald. 

A bit disheartened, Tino went about his morning and finally made his way out of the house and towards his office building.

He had a meeting with the head of the international communications department first thing in the morning, who was also going to show him the ropes in the coming weeks, though this position wasn’t too different from his old job, so he was pretty confident he wouldn’t need too much help.

He had only been in the building once before, for his interview with HR, so it took him a while to figure out where he had to go, but in the end, he got there in time.

Upon exiting the elevator, Tino let the first person he met on the international communications floor know who he was there to see and she told him to wait and went off to fetch the department head.

The man coming around the corner was tall, blonde, and wore glasses.

If Tino hadn’t met Berwald again just a day ago he would have been all over the guy.

“Mr Williams, I assume?” He instead asked with a steady voice.

“Please, call me Matthew,” he answered with a kind smile, his English softly accented. 

That did make Tino a little weak. But just a little. The weight of his phone with the useless Facebook app on it was heavy in his pocket.

“Ok,” he smiled back, trying to sound as steady as before, “you can call me Tino, then.”

Matthew nodded and checked a door to their right. It was an empty meeting room and he waved Tino inside to brief him.

It turned out the accent Tino had detected earlier was a remnant of being raised French-Canadian. The language of communication in this part of the company was mostly English, but the rest of it was run in Swedish. Matthew was responsible for communication with all French-speaking countries, as well as most major English speaking countries, and apparently he even had family in most of those places.

“So, I heard you were basically hired on the spot for speaking six languages? How come your old job has let you go?” Matthew wondered.

“Oh, they employed me on a limited contract,” Tino explained, “and I wasn’t entirely sure it was going to be renewed, so I decided to look around for other opportunities. Sweden came up and, first of all, the pay was a lot better than my Düsseldorf job and it’s closer to home… I’ve lived in Germany ever since I completed my vocational training, but Finland never left my heart. The company that hired me hired me exclusively for my Swedish and by the time I left they had already hired other people that spoke Swedish in addition to the languages of other countries they did business in.”

“What a shame. But in the name of Mr Oxenstierna I’m happy to welcome you on board,” Matthew said with another smile.

“E-excuse me? Did you say ‘Oxenstierna’? I thought the company belonged to a Mr Karlsson?” 

Tino had a bad feeling about this.

“Oh, Mr Oxenstierna is Mr Karlsson’s son, he took over quite recently after his father’s untimely death,” Matthew explained.

“That… wouldn’t be Berwald Oxenstierna by any chance?”

“Oh. Do you know him?” 

“Ha- uhm, I wouldn’t say ‘know’ know him, we’re not even Facebook friends or anything, I mean… uhm. We kinda met on a school exchange eight years ago and then… lost contact.”

“Don’t worry about it too much. I know he _looks_ scary but so far he has been a good boss.”

That wasn’t really what Tino had been worried about.

“I don’t doubt it,” he assured.

“Let me show you to your desk, then,” the taller man offered.

Tino nodded and followed him out of the room, mind whirring. The job was good, the pay excellent, he had given up his entire life in Germany for it and lost his boyfriend in the process, but how would he deal with his feelings for Berwald? Did the company have a policy on co-worker dating? Was Berwald even considered a co-worker? Would it look like he was trying to sleep his way up in the office hierarchy if he did pursue a relationship with Berwald? 

His phone, which still hadn’t vibrated once in his pocket, now felt like it was mocking him.

* * *

Tino’s first day consisted of mostly translation work, he drafted ads in Estonian, Finnish, German and Dutch to win new customers from those places that didn’t speak English. In addition to that, some already existing contacts in those countries would slowly be transferred to his care. Karlsson’s had recently started to rapidly expand into the world and thus the international communications department had to grow with it. Tino wondered if that was Berwald’s doing. He had done some research, and apparently Berwald had quietly taken over his father’s position about a year ago, never making a big deal about it. That explained why Tino hadn't even been aware that the company had changed hands.

This was a grade-A mess he had found himself in, and Berwald still hadn’t even replied to his message on Facebook nor accepted his friend request.

By the Time work ended Tino couldn't wait to call Eduard once again to tell him his woes. Despite being five years older than him, his cousin had always been his best friend. They had grown up closer than most cousins, he supposed, having grown up just a ferry ride apart many holidays and weekends were spent at each other's houses. Even when Eduard had started meeting up with, and later dating his neighbour, he still hung out with him and sometimes even both of them, as he was friends with both of them. He had felt extremely cool, hanging out with older kids, until he had realized both of them were giant nerds. He still loved them though. And their kids. He loved children.

Being just a short flight away from them was another reason why he had moved up to Stockholm. His heart longed for starting his own little family, but that dream had been shattered the day Eduard announced the birth of his first child, a boy named Egor. Because by then Tino had been undeniably in love with Berwald and oh so very, very gay.

But Egor was a joy. A true summer child, eight years old now, he and his sister Tina adored their ‘uncle’. Tino had cried when Eduard and Tanja named their daughter after him.

A small part of him had never fully stopped blaming Berwald for this, even though he knew it was stupid to think this way, Berwald may have been his first crush, but he would have figured out his sexuality eventually. But thinking about Eduard and his small family made that part stir in him again, and it was with that mindset that he stepped into the elevator.

At just the wrong time. His gaze fell on a man’s chest, and when he looked up, (and up, and up, ) there was Berwalds face staring back at him. His brow was creased until he finally seemed to connect the pieces.

“You!” He said, seemingly before he could stop himself. He cleared his throat.

“I did not know that you work here. But you should know that I expect my employees to call me Mr Oxenstierna,” Berwald explained, face stern and staring forward, at a point distinctly _above_ Tino’s head.

Tino was flabbergasted and a little angry. No, more than a little angry.

“Actually, I just started today, _Mr Oxenstierna,”_ Tino said, hands balling into fists at his sides, “and I did not know that _you_ worked here. And for fu... dges sake, check your Facebook!” 

He couldn’t believe he had almost sworn in front of his boss! Luckily at this moment, the door dinged open and Tino could storm out, pushing his way through some very confused men in suits. It was only when the elevator doors closed behind him, that he realized this wasn’t actually the ground floor. So he decided to take the stairs.

* * *

After what had happened in the elevator, Tino felt too enraged to just go home and talk to Eduard. He knew he had to calm down first. 

One thing that never failed to calm him down was sitting on a tram to nowhere specific and just watch the world pass by. So he got on the next empty tram cart he saw, took a seat in the second to last row and tried to forget everything. Forget about Berwald, Facebook, and his niece and nephew.

His efforts were in vain, it turned out because a few stops later a man and a boy that could only have been a few years older than Egor entered the car and sat down two rows in front of him.

The man seemed stressed and in a hurry, paying more attention to his phone and the digital display of tram stops overhead than the boy he came in with.

The boy had taken to staring out the window, clearly fascinated by the passing landscape.

A couple stops later the man was frantically typing out a message on his phone, when he suddenly jerked his head up to the tram’s display and with a start was out of his seat and the door that had already begun to close. Tino saw him running down the street, and so did the boy, who at first stared in shock, but as the tram started moving again he started banging against the glass and crying out:

“Arthur?! Arthur?! Don’t leave me!”

Tino was next to him in a second. 

“Hey, hey, shhh hey. I’m sorry, he won’t hear you,” he tried to calm the kid down. 

The boy turned to him. 

“I- I’m not s-supposed to t-talk to s-strangers,” he said in a shaky voice, tears still streaming down his face. 

“I’m Tino. What’s your name?”

“P-Peter,” he offered shyly.

“See, Peter, now we’re not strangers anymore. Do you have a phone? Or Arthur’s number?“

“N-no, I d-don’t.”

That complicated things.

“Ok, Peter, listen to me: The best thing we can do is to get out at the next stop and try to chase your…?” Tino trailed off.

“My b-brother,” Peter clarified.

“Your brother,” Tino nodded.

He held out a hand for the boy who wiped his tears and took it. 

“We’re going to find him,” Tino promised, as they moved to stand in front of the door together.

“Do we have to? You seem much nicer than that jerk,” Peter innocently asked him.

Tino almost burst out laughing at that. “I’m afraid we do have to, yes.”

Peter pouted. 

“When the door opens we’re going to run back along the tracks to the last stop, can you do that or do you want me to carry you or a bit?” Tino asked the boy.

Peter's eyes went wide. 

“Can I sit on your shoulders?” He asked.

Tino agreed, mostly to make him happy, but also because he didn’t fully trust him to keep up the speed he was aiming for. He knew he didn’t look it, but he was strong, and fast, so carrying the kid on his shoulders was probably going to be his best option.

“Yes! I knew you were much better than that jerk! He never carries me on his shoulders! Only Alfred and Jett, and I hardly ever see them…”

Finally, they reached the next stop and the doors opened. On the pavement Tino lowered himself to the ground and Peter eagerly climbed up his shoulders and like that they took off.

Peter sounded like he had the time of his life, being carried through the streets of Stockholm on the back of the sprinting Finnish man. 

Tino was reminded of the Time he ‘borrowed’ Tanja for the wife carrying competition back home, but when they arrived at the tram stop even he was out of breath. 

“Can you see your brother anywhere?” He asked his young passenger.

He could feel Peter twist and stretch, but eventually the boy told him no, his brother was nowhere to be found.

“Do you know where he was going from here?” Tino asked him.

“He had a job interview,” Peter answered. 

Tino’s heart fell. Would a man like Arthur, who managed to completely forget his kid brother on a tram decide it was more important to attend his job interview than go looking for him? If he even remembered that he had forgotten him in the first place!

“Ok, let’s get you down for a bit now,” Tino announced.

Peter seemed a bit disappointed but climbed to the ground readily enough. 

“I have to confess I know absolutely nothing about this city, I just moved here-”

“I live in London!” Peter helpfully provided.

“— so unless you have the name of the place and I can google it,” he waved around his phone at that, “the best we can do is walk in the approximate direction he ran off to earlier and hope we find him…”

“It was something with a C I think!”

Peter did not seem to think the situation was as grave as Tino did. And Tino, of course, didn’t want to worry the boy unnecessarily.

“Ok, walking it is, then.” Tino decided.

As it turned out, it was not that easy to find ‘something with a C’ and Tino began to realize it would maybe have been smarter to just wait for Arthur at the tram stop. That feeling intensified when it suddenly started to rain heavily. 

They found a relatively dry place in front of a store, facing a street sign reading ‘Östermalmsgatan’.

It was starting to get dark by then, the mild autumn day turning into a cool night.

Tino was ready to admit that he had royally screwed up. He was checking his phone to confirm that reaching his flat would take about an hour's walk when suddenly, it vibrated with an incoming notification.

‘Berwald Oxenstierna accepted your friend request’

It took everything he had not to start laughing maniacally. 

For lack of something better to do, he decided to check Berwald’s full profile page. He hadn’t answered his message yet.

And there it was, staring him in the face: An address on Östermalmsgatan.

“Peter? We’re going to visit a friend of mine,” he announced to the boy.

A chipper “Okay!” was the answer he got.

Did nothing bother this kid?

Tino loaded up the navigation to Berwald’s address on his phone. He shrugged out of the thin jacket he was wearing and instructed Peter to wear it and cover his head as well. 

Then he took the boys hand and together they ran through the pouring rain, water splashing up to their calves. Tino’s shirt was drenched in seconds, sticking to his chest, his tie now heavy around his neck. His phone’s screen was going crazy due to the raindrops, so he had to turn it off and rely on the directions the tinny voice was giving him.

“Your destination is on the right,” it finally announced.

Tino spotted the right house number fairly quickly and jammed his finger on the doorbell with Berwald’s name on it.

The door buzzed open almost immediately. Tino decided not to question it, and let himself and Peter into the house. 

Once inside Tino took the drenched jacket from Peter and ushered the boy into the elevator. They drove up to Berwald's floor and when they turned the corner they could see Berwald waiting there, money in his hand, clearly waiting for a delivery of some sorts.

"Uhm," said Tino.

"You're not Leon," deducted Berwald.

"No, I. Uhm," Tino began again. "We got caught in the rain and I saw your address on Facebook and… now that I'm here I'm beginning to think this was a stupid idea, like most of my ideas today but-"

He was cut off by Peter, who walked in front of him, hand stretched out to Berwald. A look of shock spread on Berwald's face when the boy began to talk, he didn't seem to have seen him before.

"Hi, I'm Peter! My brother forgot me on a train today, and Mr Tino helped me look for him! We didn't find him, even though Mr Tino ran reeeaaally fast! He carried me!!! Then it started to rain, and we were standing around for a bit until Mr Tino said we'd go see a friend of his and here we are. Are you Mr Tino's friend?"

All that poured out of the boy at rapid speed. Berwald just kind of stared at him, and then at Tino, who was awkwardly smiling, and then back at Peter. Eventually, Peter dropped his hand, and wrapped his arms around himself, shivering a little. Apparently together in their wet clothes, they made a pathetic enough picture that Berwald moved out of his doorway and waved them inside.

Peter went happily into the warmth of the flat, no sign of the pathetic shiver he had shown just seconds before. Tino was almost ready to believe that it had been an act to tug on Berwald's heartstrings. Whatever, it had worked.

Tino shrank a little and mouthed 'thank you' as Berwald waved him inside.

They were awkwardly standing in Berwald's big, open flat when he silently walked past them and came back a few moments later with two big, fluffy white towels that they gratefully accepted. Berwald pointed them to his living room, where they gingerly sat down on his sofa.

When Berwald returned a second time, he was carrying what looked like two sets of clothes. 

He handed Tino a pair of sweatpants that came with a string to fasten them and a hoodie that would probably swamp him. For Peter, he had what looked like a band shirt that would probably fit the kid like a dress, a pair of shorts that would definitely go past the boy’s ankles and a belt.

"Come on, I'll show you the bathroom," he said while offering his hand to the kid. 

Peter happily took it, smiling again as he was led away. 

Tino was left alone, sitting in Berwald's very impressive and expensive-looking living room, chewing his lip. Berwald was going to have questions, and Tino did not know if he had the answers.

When Berwald returned he was alone.

He walked and sat down on an armchair, facing Tino.

"You kidnapped a child."

"I did not! I honestly thought we could find his brother! We had just seen him run off, and we got off at the next stop and-"

Berwald held up a hand to silence him.

"You went on a wild goose chase, with a strange _child_ in a _strange city_ — yes, I've read your message on Facebook, I just didn't have the time to reply yet —," he clarified when Tino's head snapped up in puzzlement, "instead of doing the sensible thing and going to the police."

“...yes,” Tino admitted.

Berwald sighed. 

“Ordered Chinese today. There will be enough for the three of us. Get changed after the boy, I’ll put your clothes in the dryer and after dinner, I drive you down to the station.”

“Thank you,” Tino almost cried from relief.

Berwald waved it away. Peter came back around the corner to the main part of the flat, still smiling, Berwald’s Abba shirt indeed looking like a dress on him.

Tino got up to find the bathroom himself when Berwald called after him:

“First door to the left. And Tino?”

“Yes?”

“It’s good to see you again.”

Tino’s heart started beating faster from joy at that.

“You too,” he managed to get out, before hurrying to the bathroom, trying to calm himself down.

* * *

Tino had heard the doorbell ring while he was getting changed.

The scene he found, when stepping back into the living area, made his heart sing.

The dining table was set for three, Berwald and Peter had already taken their seats, and Peter was swinging his feet back and forth. In the middle of the table sat a bag proudly displaying “Yao’s Takeout” in red, stylized writing. It was just… _so domestic._

It didn’t take much for him to imagine this as his everyday life, and he wanted to kick himself. Peter was going back to his family in probably less than an hour, and Berwald was going back to being his boss.

“I already put everything in the dryer,” he announced when he saw Berwald starting to get up.

He nodded and indicated the third plate to Tino. He still ended up standing to reach into the takeout bag, taking out the food, including the obligatory huge container of bami goreng.

“Best Chinese place in town, I'm assuming?” Tino asked, half-jokingly.

“Mhm,” came the answer.

Tino just smiled.

In true Chinese takeout fashion, it was indeed enough food for all of them. Peter had stuck mostly with the noodles while Tino and Berwald had shared some of the more exciting stuff.

Tino had decided that he needed to get Yao’s number immediately.

It was over way too soon. 

Tino had set the dryer to 30 minutes and it beeped almost simultaneously with Peter picking up his last noodle from the plate.

“I don’t suppose we could order dessert?” Tino joked half-heartedly, earning an excited look from Peter and a glare from Berwald.

He pushed himself off the table.

“I’m going to get dressed. Can you tell Peter the plan?” Tino didn’t feel like he had the strength in him.

Berwald nodded so he got up and walked to the bathroom. This had… affected him more than he expected. All the feelings for Berwald he had tried to forget for 8 years had come back, and even the possibility of starting a family seemed closer than it had in years. Was it really all that impossible? He just had dinner with a man - the man - he loved and a child that already adored him (though, he had to admit Peter being so trustworthy in the first place was not all that good for the boy, whoever had given him the talk about not talking to strangers maybe should have a little follow up…). Of course he had to give Peter back. Most likely to the man that had abandoned him in the first place, and no matter how much he hated that thought, especially considering the way Peter had talked about his ‘jerk’ brother… it had to be done.

While folding Peter’s clothes and getting dressed he could hear Peter whining at Berwald. Tino could imagine what he was suggesting, it had already happened on the train after all.

He had to steel himself before walking back out of the bathroom because he was dreading the pleading look Peter was sure to give him. But when he made his way back to the other two, the boy’s whole attention was fixed on Berwald who was on his phone.

“I understand. But, Matthew, his name isn’t Peter, by any chance?” 

Peter’s eyes went wide. Tino was confused.

“Well, there’s a boy named Peter here who says his brother-” Berwald paused as Matthew seemed to be finishing his sentence for him.

“- abandoned him on a train, exactly.

“Because he’s a jerk!” Peter injected.

“Yes. Another one of my employees actually found him. He is new in town so he came to me, we were going to drive to the Police station right about now.” He stopped to listen again. “Yes, of course.” Here Berwald rattled off his address. 

Tino made his way back to the table from where he had been frozen in the doorway as Berwald said his goodbyes.

“That was your Uncle Matthew,” Berwald explained to Peter. “He told me to tell you that your Uncle Alfred is on his way here now.”

“They’re not actually really my uncles,” Peter said matter of factly.

Tino’s mouth had one very dry.

“Peter,” he croaked, and then cleared his throat a few times, “you never mentioned that you had other family here in Stockholm.”

“Just Alfred and Matthew. And Arthur says we’re just distinctly related.”

“You mean distantly.” 

“Yes. That”

“Please tell me that you weren’t supposed to stay in that train and meet them somewhere,” Tino said, his eyes closed and hand raised to massage his temples. 

What he had done felt already too close to kidnapping as it were, he did not know how to talk himself out of it if he had misinterpreted the entire situation.

“What? NO! My brother actually complained a lot about having to take me with him because no one could watch me because they were working!” Peter protested.

Tino looked up at Berwald. 

“Did Matthew work longer than us today?”

Berwald, to his relief, nodded.

* * *

It didn’t take long for 'Alfred' to arrive. He announced himself by loudly banging on the door to Berwald's flat, to the surprise of everyone within because the doorbell hadn't rung. Berwald, to his credit, recovered from the shock quite quickly, getting up from his chair and walking to the door. 

Tino only heard part of the ensuing conversation, because, unlike Berwald, Alfred spoke very loudly.

"You Mattie's boss? 

O.K. good. 

This is my colleague, officer Swedish-Name. 

Ahaha, of course it's not, I just can't remember it!

Peter in there?"

What came around the corner was, for all intents and purposes, an American.

Not only that, an American cop to boot. The only contact Tino had had with law enforcement so far had been due to some not so wise decisions in his teenage years, but even he was pretty sure American cops weren't usually running around in their uniforms in Stockholm.

He was followed by a Swedish police officer, who had around the same height and build as Berwald.

"PETER!" The one that was clearly Alfred, because there was no doubt that he was Matthew's brother, shouted. 

Peter, who got dressed before the newcomers had arrived, leapt into Alfred's outstretched arms. He, to his credit, immediately lifted the boy up to his shoulders where he throned like a king.

"Ok, can anybody explain to me what is going on? Because I'm completely and utterly lost," Tino admitted.

"Are you the one that found him? Alfred F. Jones, I'm kinda like his uncle. Also, a liaison to the Swedish police. Hence, the uniform," Alfred held his hand out in front of him and Tino shook it.

"'Found' is a strong word. I was sitting behind him and his brother on the tram when suddenly that guy ran off and left Peter behind without a word. So I kind of decided to chase after him. Probably not the smartest decision but I had kind of hoped he would wait for Peter to drive back or something…" Toni explained himself.

"Yeah, that's about the story he gave me, he realised halfway to his job interview that he left Peter behind and called me to get him off the train but by the time I had chased it down Peter was of course gone. Then I and Bernhard and a few colleagues just started searching the area," he pointed to his partner.

"It's a wonder you didn't find us. Since I don't know my way around the city we kind of just ended up caught in the rain and this was the closest place I knew how to get to… Berwald immediately offered to drive us to the police once our clothes were dry again which I should probably have done in the first place but that thought didn't occur to me for some reason…"

"Hey, I get it, it's a high-stress situation and you just wanted to help, I don't blame you for trying to find the guy first. Honestly, if he were less of an a-hole he would have been waiting at the station he got off at, he just decided to go to his job interview instead. Bernhard will have to ask you a couple of questions though."

The Swedish policeman gave him an apologetic shrug.

So Tino spent the next hour making an official statement to the police officer. 

Arthur, ever the worried brother as it seemed, didn’t show up.

When they finally left, Peter was barely conscious. Once again, sitting on Alfred’s shoulders he kept falling forward. Alfred patted his leg.

“Come on kiddo, you get to drive home in a real Swedish police car,” he promised.

That made Peter smile.

Finally, the door closed behind Alfred and Bernhard and Tino breathed a sigh of relief, sitting back in his chair. That was not how he had expected his first day in the new job to end. But when Berwald turned to him he realised that he might have relaxed too early. He didn’t look _angry_ per se, just… not exactly pleased.

“Oh, my- I’m so sorry, Berwald, I shouldn’t have dragged you into this. I’ll be out of your hair-” “No!” Berwald shouted, a look of panic on his face, hand stretched out a little towards Tino.

Tino, who had started to get up and collect his jacket, that was slung across the back of his chair sat back down slowly.

“Or, I… won’t?” He questioned.

“‘M sorry,” Berwald apologized, “you’re free to go, of course, but…” he trailed off.

“But?” Tino encouraged him.

“But we haven't seen each other in eight years. I,” he swallowed. 

Tino suddenly realised that he had never heard Berwald talk as much as he had this evening. He had always been a very reserved person, even when they had started getting to know each other better by the end of the month. He had been more articulate in the emails they had exchanged between Berwald’s stay in Finland and Tino's respective visit to Berwald’s then home in Denmark.

“Berwald?” He asked the man that now looked perfectly miserable to him, “would it help to write down what you’re trying to say?”

Berwald looked at him with a look that was both shock and adoration. He nodded and got out his phone. Tino did the same and they quickly exchanged numbers. 

When Tino opened up WhatsApp, he saw that he had an unread message from Eduard asking about his first day. He decided to ignore it for the time being. Instead, he sent Berwald a little emoji as encouragement. Berwald who was currently typing away on his phone looked up at him and smiled.

And so Berwald told him how he had been the first person his age who had seen past his ‘scary’ appearance except for his step-brother Mathias. Tino hadn’t seen Mathias often during the two weeks he had spent at Berwald’s home in Denmark, and as they continued ‘talking’ Berwald explained that his stepbrother had been a bit of a wild child but had settled down in recent years after meeting his current boyfriend Lukas. Something about that rang a bell, but Tino couldn’t really place it.

Initially, he had wanted to keep in contact, but, as Tino already knew, their contact eventually came to a halt.

Tino blamed himself for that, his inability to admit his true feelings to Berwald had made writing to him increasingly more painful to the point his replies had taken longer and longer to compose until he had finally stopped replying at all.

He debated telling Berwald as much, admitting his teenage crush while downplaying his current one. Was that even possible? He felt like he owed the man an explanation. He had truly been his only friend and he had cut off contact without any explanation.

Berwald seemed to notice him freeze, because he reached out to him, placing a comforting hand on his arm.

“You O.K.?” He asked.

The sweetness of the gesture shook Tino out of his stupor.

“Yes, I… Um. Just trying to figure out how to explain what happened without sounding like a total weirdo.”

When Berwald just gave his arm a soft squeeze, Tino took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

“I was… utterly and completely in love with you. Back then. Eight years ago.” 

He expected the hand on his arm to vanish, Berwald being shocked and maybe weirded out by his confession. But it stayed. He hesitantly cracked one eye open and then the other.

The look of Berwald’s face was a mixture of disbelief and adoration. 

Before either of them could say anything the front door was suddenly thrown open.

“ _Honey, I’m home_!” A high-pitched male voice called loudly.

“ _God, Mathias, hold kjeften på deg, he has neighbours!_ ” A deeper, less energetic voice protested, just as loudly.

That had finally made Berwald retract his hand. He shot Tino a look that said ‘I am so sorry’. Tino gave him a tiny, reassuring smile. Mathias’ bad timing certainly wasn’t anyone's fault but his own.

A few seconds later the culprits stumbled around the corner, clearly drunk.

“I thought you went out for _dinner,_ not to a bar,” Berwald accused them.

“We did at first, but Mathias was insistent to try to find his new 'friends'”, the smaller man, who Tino assumed to be Lukas, explained.

“OH MY GOD, THAT’S HIM! THAT’S HIM LUKAS!” Mathias suddenly shouted, excitedly pointing at Tino.

When Mathias started screaming at Tino, Berwald seemed to instinctively take on a more defensive position which made his heart swell a little.

“You know each other?” Berwald asked, now looking back at Tino.

“I… not to my knowledge? I mean, I met Mathias eight years ago when I visited you?”

“We met at that bar last Friday,” offered Lukas. “You and your cousin. You were pretty drunk already, though. Stupid Dane proceeded to drink you completely under the table.”

The memories suddenly came flooding back to Tino, and he buried his head in his hands.

“Oh, god! I hit on you didn’t I?”

The laughter he got in response was all he needed to confirm his suspicion.

“I would compliment your taste but now you’re here with my fugly brother, so I choose to be insulted instead,” Mathias told him. “How did you even meet? I refuse to believe Berwald has a social life outside of work and the dog shelter!”

“They say you meet a lot of people walking dogs…” Lukas mused, “But didn’t you say you already met eight years ago?” 

He walked over to the table and, despite his intoxication, gracefully sat down in the chair opposite of Tino. He then proceeded to fix him with a piercing stare that convinced Tino he could stare straight into his soul for the briefest of moments. 

“Don’t freak him out with your weird troll powers, babe,” Mathias chuckled as he took the remaining chair for himself, pulling it close to Lukas’.

“Troll powers?” Tino asked, confused.

“He means like, what’s the word, _noita*?_ Not actual trolls,” Lukas explained.

Mathias, meanwhile, mimed long, upright hair and giant ears, leaving no doubt to what he had actually meant.

“Nice Korpiklaani reference*,” Tino remarked and Lukas nodded at him, “and yeah, we’ve met before,” he turned to Mathias. “My class took part in an exchange program eight years ago and Berwald was my exchange student. And when I visited him in Denmark, Mathias was there. Sometimes.”

“Gasp,” Mathias said out loud, “you were the chubby kid! HOL-”

Lukas punched his boyfriend's arm, causing him to look at him like a kicked puppy, before he could finish his thought. On Tino’s left Berwald grumbled low and threateningly.

"It's O.K., he's not wrong," Tino assured them, "I loved my mom's cooking way too much."

A silence followed in which no one asked why he said ‘loved’.

“So, have you two been in contact ever since?” Lukas wanted to know.

“Oh, no. We actually just met again yesterday. When Berwald was walking a dog,” he said that last part pointedly towards Mathias. “A very cute dog, by the way. I thought she was yours!”

“Landlord doesn’t allow it,” Berwald explained, looking rather sad.

“Oh, I’m sorry...”

“Way to kill the mood Berwald! Anyway. Tino. I’ve been looking for you! I still owe you a drink!”

“You do?” Tino asked, puzzled.

“YES!” Mathias shouted, sprinting up to Berwald’s fridge and pulling it open.

“What he means is that he drank your beer in the last round because you were literally too drunk to drink it. That was shortly before Eduard dragged you home,” Lukas explained.

Mathias let out a cry of distress from the fridge. 

“Where is the Carlsberg?!” He demanded to know.

“You drank it? Yesterday,” Lukas informed him.

“But all that is here is disgusting Swedish beer!”

“It’s fine, I have to work tomorrow anyway,” Tino reassured him.

“No one would even notice tomorrow if you drank a little now!” Mathias said confidently.

“Well, my boss would know, for one,” Tino smiled.

“What? Is he psychic like Lukas?” The Dane laughed.

“No, but he’s sitting next to me,” Tino revealed with a sly grin.

Berwald turned a little red.

“Seriously?” Mathias wanted to know.

“Yes. I only found out today though. Apparently he took over the company right after I looked into it and I never got the update,” Tino shrugged.

“Well then. It shouldn’t count if you’re drinking your bosses beer, huh?” With that he grabbed a can of Sofiero from the fridge and placed it in front of Tino.

“Really. I still have to drive home. It’s a good 30 minutes by tram from here. I should- are you ok?”

Tino had gotten up from his chair and grabbed his jacket again, but he stopped making his excuses when a look of pure misery crossed Berwlad’s face.

While Berwald fidgeted and finally pulled out his phone to text Tino, Mathias drew a shocked breath and elbowed Lukas in the side. 

“I saw it, I saw it, stop that!” He hissed back.

Berwald texted him that he would like it very much if they could continue their conversation from earlier and offered him to stay over. Tino looked down on the clothes he was wearing. They were dry now, but the day hadn’t left them exactly _clean._

‘I can put them through the wash and dry them in the morning.’ 

He considered it for a bit.

'O.K., but I'm drinking your beer,' he texted back.

Berwald nodded at him, and so he sat back down, opened the can and took a swig, to Mathias' delight.

Lukas, infinitely better at reading the atmosphere, started to yawn and stretch, accidentally smacking Mathias in the side of the head while doing so.

“I’m tired. We’re going to go to bed,” he announced to the room at large.

He got up from his chair and pulled an initially protesting Mathias with him. A pointed look shut the taller man up pretty quickly, though.

“Have fun,” he called over his shoulder while he was being led away.

“That was… interesting,” Tino remarked when they had disappeared.

Berwald hummed.

“He’s… irritating. But he’s family.”

“What if I meant Lukas?” Tino teased.

“There are no words to describe Lukas Bondevik,” Berwald snorted. “You should meet his brother someday.”

“You know? I think I’d love to,” Tino smiled.

“So. ‘Bout what you said earlier…”

“We can text again if you’d prefer."

Berwald nodded. 

And so they talked. Berwald admitted that he had also had feelings for Tino.

Tino was, of course, elated to hear that. But he had no way of telling if Berwald’s feelings were as much a thing of the past as his own. Probably not. It was weird being hung up on someone for eight years, after all.

After that, they talked about what had happened to them in the last eight years. 

Berwald told Tino about how he had started talking to his father again and ended up moving back to Sweden to be closer to him as his health started to deteriorate. How his current apartment had been his father’s, and how he had ended up completely moving in and eventually inheriting both it and the company from his father.

Tino brushed over his strained relationship with his own parents, talked about Eduard and his family, and his many failed relationships, the longest and latest of which had been with Ludwig.

Eventually, the late hour combined with the alcohol made Tino yawn profoundly. Berwald took that as a queue to announce he would get their beds ready.

“What do you mean ‘our beds’ don’t you have a bed in your own flat?” Tino wondered while he followed Berwald down the hallway into the master bedroom.

“Well, since the guest room’s occupied there’s only the folding sofa in the office, and I’m not going to make you sleep on that. I’ll put new sheets on my bed for you,” Berwald explained his plan. 

“I’m not just gonna steal your bed!” Tino protested.

“Tino, I invited you over even though you could have gone home earlier.”

“Fine. We’ll share that one then,” Tino decided. 

Once the words were out of his mouth, he regretted them. Sure, his bed was big, actually bigger than the one they had shared as teenagers in Berwald’s home but… Berwald was still his boss. 

“I… what?”

“It’s a big bed. It wouldn’t even be the first time. And I’m tired, Berwald, I just want to sleep.” 

Could his mouth please stop making things worse now? 

Berwald looked guilty. After a few seconds of consideration, he nodded. He walked over to the closet and pulled out a set of PJ’s for Tino. 

“Just put your clothes in the machine, I’ll fill it up afterwards. There is an unused toothbrush from a two-pack behind the mirror,” he instructed as he handed them to Tino.

Tino nodded, grabbed the clothes and headed to the bathroom, where he proceeded to have a little breakdown. As soon as the door was closed behind him, he scrambled to get hold of his phone to call Eduard. Who did not pick up, which meant Tino had to resort to sending him multiple voice messages. And if some of them were recorded while he was brushing his teeth that was all on Eduard for not picking up. He’d just have to listen to them again, Tino reasoned.

And in those messages he detailed his entire, crazy day. 

* * *

Messaging Eduard had maybe delayed Tino a little, but he hoped it hadn’t been too noticeable, when he stepped back into the bedroom where Berwald sat on the edge of the bed, reading a book.

Upon hearing Tino enter he quickly put the book away and got up.

Tino shuffled over to the side of the bed Berwald hadn’t been sitting on, but before Berwald left the room he thanked him for offering to wash his clothes.

“Can’t go in dirty clothes on your second day,” Berwald joked, “have to wait at least two weeks for that.”

Tino snorted, which seemed to surprise Berwald a little, but he smiled as he closed the door behind himself.

As Tino got into bed, his phone buzzed with a message from Eduard that read ‘wtf’. And a few minutes later: ‘WTF???’

When he drifted off to sleep that night, lying next to his boss and crush of eight years he couldn’t help but think ‘WTF indeed’.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Noita is Finnish for witch and also an album by the Finnish band Korpiklaani
> 
> The belt Berwald gave Peter was one of those that have holes in the whole thing for aesthetic purposes because I once lent one to a small boy who had to wear a pair of way too big pants from a lost and found box. It was probably Iceland's and he forgot it in the guest room. 
> 
> I know that Swedish and Norwegian might actually be a bit more mutually intelligible than I portrayed them at the beginning of the bar scene as I only searched one translation each there, later on, I used multiple. But Swedish is Tino's third or second language and he is drunk already at that point. I also believe Mathias would make more of an effort once he realised that Swedish isn't Tino's first language, speaking with more of the direct cognates or straight up Swedish with a more Norwegian pronunciation...


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this took longer than planned, I ended up rewriting the entire ending which will be posted as an epilogue later today!

When Tino woke up the next morning, it took him a while to orientate himself.

Right. Berwald’s flat. Berwald’s room. Berwald’s bed. No Berwald though. He had definitely been there last night. His phone was ringing with his 7 AM alarm, so Berwald must have gotten up earlier without waking him. 

He got out of bed, Berwald’s pyjamas hanging loose on his smaller frame and made his way to the bathroom where the dryer was rumbling away, presumably with his work clothes in it. 

After brushing his teeth he made his way into the kitchen, where Berwald and a very tired looking Lukas were communicating in what must have been sign language, though Tino had never learned any. Berwald was occasionally turning to the stove to stir a pan of scrambled eggs. More interestingly though, Lukas was clutching a big mug of coffee in the hand he didn’t use for signing. Apparently noticing Tino’s longing stare. he got up and wordlessly grabbed him a mug and filled it to the brim with delicious smelling coffee. 

“Sugar?” he asked. 

“Two spoons,” Tino confirmed. “No milk. Thank you,” he gratefully took the mug from Lukas who nodded and sat back down. 

“Your clothes should be dry soon,” Berwald informed him. 

“Thank you, really.” 

Tino sat down at the Kitchen table Lukas was already occupying. Apart from their mugs, there were two types of bread, various spreads and plates already on it. 

“Is Mathias not up yet?” Tino wondered. “From what I remember he wasn’t the kind of person to sleep in.” 

“Usually he would be,” Lukas confirmed, “but he was up all night texting his and Berwald’s mother.” He raised an eyebrow. 

“O-oh.” Tino quickly took a sip of his coffee to cover up his blush. 

He knew what this had to look like to Mathias. But it wasn’t… was it? 

That was when the doorbell rang. As Berwald was currently pouring the scrambled eggs into a bowl and Lukas still looked half-dead, Tino decided to go and check. 

He walked to the intercom apologized for Berwald being indisposed and asked who was there. 

He did not expect the cheery voice that answered. 

“Hi, Tino! It’s Peter! My brother dropped me off here because he had to leave for another job interview!” 

“ _Perkele_!” He couldn't stop himself in Time. It was unlikely Peter understood the Finnish swear, but still, he didn’t want to swear in front of children. Eduard would kill him. Or at least try to. Maybe he’d ask Tanja to do it. 

“Peter, is he still there with you?” 

“No, he sprinted away when you answered,” Peter informed him. 

“I'll buzz you in. Do you remember which floor you have to take the elevator to?” 

“Yes,” Peter confirmed. 

Tino pressed the door release for a long time and then stepped into the hallway in front of Berwald’s flat. 

* * *

The scene Peter and Tino walked in on in the Kitchen explained why no one had come to check on him. Lukas hadn’t moved, but Berwald was holding the bowl with the eggs high over his head while Matias did his best to take them from him. Tino hadn’t noticed the previous day but now that Mathias’s hair wasn’t styled it was obvious that he was a few centimetres shorter than his brother. 

Everyone stopped when the two of them walked in. 

“Uhm. Berwald. Why is there a child staring at me?” Mathias wanted to know. 

“Tino?” Was all Berwald had to say. 

“Oh, so I’m not the only one that can see him…” was Lukas’ only contribution. 

Peter, who clearly had _no_ idea what anyone was saying, stuck his hand out to Mathias who was still basically wrapped around Berwald. 

“Hi, I’m Peter. My brother doesn’t have time for me so he brought me here.” 

“Are you related to Tino?” Lukas questioned from the table. 

“No, but we met yesterday, he’s nice,” the boy smiled. 

And so Berwald and (mostly) Tino told the whole story of what had happened yesterday, while Berwald fetched a chair for Peter and set down a plate for him. 

“Peter, why did your brother drop you off here? How did he even know where to go?” Tino wanted to know. 

“Well, Matthew gave him the address yesterday in case he wanted to meet us here, but in the end, Alfred brought me back to the hotel. And this morning me and the jerk had a fight and I told him I liked you better than him so he said if you like Tino so much better why don’t you stay with him an’ I said fine and so we drove here.” 

“But Peter, I have to go to work! Me and Berwald both! In fact, we work at the same place Matthew works at! We can’t look after you all day!” Tino started to panic a little. 

What had he done? Strange people were now dropping kids at his bosses doorstep because of him! 

“We’re on holiday!” Mathias announced from his right. “Me and Lukas. We can take care of you!” 

“Mathias. I love you but what the hell are you talking about. You can’t even take care of Emil.” 

“Emil is 18. He doesn’t _want_ _anyone_ to take care of him, Lukas.” He turned to Peter. 

“Have you seen the old city, Peter? It’s beautiful. Nothing compared to København, of course, but definitely worth a visit.” 

Peter's eyes went big. 

“No, I haven’t been.” 

“Gamla stan?? Really? That is the best you can come up with?” Lukas demanded to know. 

“Hey it’s a start, isn’t it? Once we’re done with that we can just google what to do in Stockholm with a kid,” Mathias shrugged. 

Lukas looked at Berwald and Tino for help. Berwald just shrugged. 

  
“You know, he has a point,” Tino said. 

“I hate everyone in this room,” Lukas announced, “hand me those eggs.” 

* * *

Berwald’s car was nice, extremely so, but just like most things he owned it looked like it had belonged to his father before him. Tino still appreciated the ride. 

“We should probably tell Matthew,” Berwald mused a few minutes into their ride. 

Tell Mattew? Right. People would see them arrive together and come to their own conclusions, and Matthew as his direct superior should know- 

“The police were looking for Peter yesterday and now he’s running around the city with two strangers. Don’t want ‘em to get into too much trouble for that.” 

Oh. Right. That. 

“They should be glad we didn’t immediately call child protective services on Arthur,” Tino grumbled. 

“Hm.” 

The drive didn’t take too long, and once at the office building, Tino followed Berwald to his office instead of exiting on his own floor. 

“Feliks, can you call Matthew Williams up here?” Berwald asked what seemed to be his secretary. 

Tino watched as Felix picked up a second phone, not putting away the one he had been talking on. 

Berwald’s office was big. Bigger than he had expected. There was a full sitting area with grey armchairs and a coffee table, big shelves filled with books and knick-knacks and an enormous desk standing in front of a large window with heavy curtains. 

“This is crazy. Did your father live in here? This is almost as big as my flat!” 

Berwald looked amused and waved him over to what Tino had assumed was just an empty part of the wall. But when Berwald pressed down on it he was able to slide it to the side to reveal a sizable bathroom, complete with a shower. 

“I stand corrected. This is as big as my flat,” Tino deadpanned. 

Just then someone knocked on the door and Berwald closed his secret bathroom again. 

It was Matthew who raised his eyebrows when he saw Tino in the room. 

“Yeah, uh, we’re Facebook friends now,” Tino said, gesturing towards Berwald with his head. 

He could feel Berwald’s confused stare on the back of his head. 

“Uhm,” said Matthew, “Is that why you called-” 

“No,” Berwald cut in, “we’re here to talk about Peter.” 

“Oh! You’re the one that found him! Thank you, Tino.” 

“Mhm, yeah, so. Are you aware of what happened this morning?” 

“This morning? I thought… I thought Al had taken Peter back to Arthur last night?” 

“And this mornin’ he dropped him on my doorstep,” Berwald informed him. 

“Oh my god! Where is- Is he..?” 

“Left him with my brother and his partner who’re visiting town, they offered to keep an eye on him today. Thought you should let your brother know, don’t want the police to see the kid they were looking for running around Gamla Stan with a couple of strangers and get the wrong idea.” 

“I’ll call him right now,” Matthew said while taking out his phone and dialling. 

“Hey, Al. Yes I know you’re busy but it’s important. Arthur. He just left Peter at my boss’s house this morning. No, he has someone to take care of him. Boss’s Family. Just thought it would better to let you know in case any of your colleagues recognize him from yesterday. O.K. Take care.” He hung up and dialled another number. 

“Arthur is not picking up,” Matthew said, anger creeping into his usually calm voice. “I’m going to text him and let you know what his excuse is later today.” 

“Hm,” Berwald nodded. “How about you two come up here at the end of the day and we can discuss things from there. 

Both of them agreed and shortly after left to go travel to their own floor. 

Tino’s second day at work wasn’t much different from his first one, but he spent his whole lunch break on the phone with Eduard. His cousin wanted to hear every detail about what had happened since they had last spoken. At the end of the day, he and Matthew made their way back up to Berwald’s office. Matthew had not told him what Arthur had said, just that he got an answer earlier that day. They passed Berwald’s secretary, Feliks, who was yet again talking to someone on the phone and Matthew knocked on the heavy office door. 

  
Berwald was sitting on one of the armchairs to the left, writing on a small piece of paper. 

He looked up when they entered and gestured towards the empty chairs around the table. They took them and both Berwald and Tino looked expectantly at Matthew. 

He sighed. 

“He sent me a voice message,” he confirmed. “I think it might be best if I just played it for you.” 

And with a press on the touchscreen his phone started to play a British voice: 

“I never signed up for being a single parent, Matthew. All Peter is right now is in my way and he knows this and he hates me. He wouldn’t _shut up_ about ‘Tino and Berwald’ and it got to the point where I just told him if he liked them so much he should just stay with them instead! 

I have three job interviews each today and tomorrow before I have to fly back home to not get fired from my old job. I need a job here. Francis refuses to keep living in England and I’m not going to move to France. He’s got it easy, he can just request a transfer, and I’m here having to take Peter with me to job interviews to make the worst impression possible. And I’m sick of it. I’m just as sick of him as he is of me! If he likes these people so much he can bloody well stay with them for all I care.” 

Tino had tears in his eyes by the end of the message. How could anyone treat a child like this? Peter was such a sweet boy, he didn’t deserve this! 

“I know this is unacceptable, of course, I will take Peter home, move Alfred into my room and reschedule my holiday for tomorrow-” 

“He can stay.” 

Everyone stared at Berwald. 

“If he wants to. I talked to Mathias and Lukas, they are fine with looking after him while they are in town. And I have enough room in my flat. I’d like to invite the two of you for dinner. Your brother too, if he has the time, Matthew.” 

“Alfred is at a conference all day… Are you sure about this? He’s not your responsibility…” 

“I am. He is a good kid. If he wants to stay he is welcome, if he wants to go back with you I will give you two extra holidays.” 

Matthew was very grateful and both he and Tino accepted the invitation to dinner. The Canadian quickly excused himself so he could drive home first, leaving Tino and Berwald behind. 

“So, what are we going to have for dinner? IKEA’s finest?” Tino joked. 

“Was thinking of making my own Köttbullar actually. Think the kid would like it?” 

“Absolutely. Were you writing a shopping list earlier?” Tino asked, referring to the paper he had seen him with earlier. 

“Yes.” 

He brandished it to Tino 

“I’ll have you know I’m very good at shopping for,” he looked at the list, “köllfäns.” 

“It says minced meat,” Berwald pouted. 

Tino just grinned at him. 

“Give it back if you can’t read my handwriting, then,” Berwald demanded. 

“Nope! Take me to the store to buy the Troll Fans!” Tino laughed. 

“Doesn’t say that!” Berwald protested. But he grabbed his jacket and opened the door for Tino, who walked outside while holding the shopping list like a treasure map. 

* * *

Tino couldn't remember ever having so much fun shopping. 

It wasn't a special store, just a regular Lidl, but he was having the time of his life, suggesting weird things for Berwald to buy, like peanut butter that would surely do well in the sauce, right? 

Then he remembered that fries and peanut butter sauce actually did go pretty well together and doubled his efforts to convince a more and more horrified looking Berwald. 

When they came back to Berwald's flat Tino was in higher spirits than he had been in all the months leading up to his move. And it seemed like Peter and Mathias were having fun too. Their laughter was heard through the door and even more clear once Berwald had unlocked it. 

“Eat my dust kid!” Mathias shouted gleefully. 

“Guess what! Blue shell!” Peter laughed a few seconds later. 

“Don’t you dare! … Oh, come on! I was mid-jump!” 

Peter’s laugh was worthy of a supervillain. 

When they turned the corner they saw Lukas reading a book with a black cover, a pair of headphones clamped tightly over his ears. Tino could make out faint sounds of screeching guitars, but it was mostly drowned out by the shouts and whoops of the other two occupants of the room. 

Mathias and Peter were sitting on the sofa, each holding a single joy-con and leaning very close in to see what was happening on the switch balanced on the coffee table. 

“Please tell me you haven’t been playing video games all day!” 

They both looked up at Tino at that, Mathias quickly pausing the game. 

“Nooo! We were outside most of the day, promise!” Peter said, a look of pure innocence on his face. 

“You shouldn’t play for too long, it’s not good for you, Peter,” Tino explained. 

“Can we finish the coup though?” Mathias asked, his expression perfectly ‘puppy-dog’. 

Tino was taken aback a little but he told him they could, causing Mathias to whoop. 

“Thanks, mom!” Peter said happily. “OH! Tino. Not… I’m…” 

“It’s fine, Peter, “ Tino reassured him, giving him a smile and trying to hold back his tears. 

He practically ran into the kitchen, where Berwald was unpacking the groceries. From the corner of his eye he saw Lukas’ stare follow him. 

“Are you ok?” Berwald asked, sounding concerned. 

“I’m fine just,” he continued in a hushed voice, “I mean it was just a slip of the tongue but Peter called me mom and it just got to me.” 

“You’d make a good parent,” Berwald told him. 

A sharp laugh escaped Tino, who had sunken down to sit on the floor, his back leaning against a kitchen cabinet. 

“I gave up that dream eight years ago.” 

“... why?” 

“Because I’m gay and hopelessly in love with- Urgh, never mind.” 

Why did he have to open his stupid mouth? Now Berwald most certainly knew and would not want to be friends anymore. 

“Have you thought about adoption?” Berwald asked, sounding calm as ever. 

That put a stop to Tino’s spiralling thoughts. 

“What?” 

“Adoption. Turned 25 in June and looked into it a bit so far. Your birthday is coming up in December, right?” 

Tino just stared at him. Berwald, curiously, wouldn’t make eye contact, just kept prepping the counter with his newly acquired groceries. A few moments of silence passed until he stopped, laughed quietly to himself and looked towards the ceiling. Then he spoke. 

“Do you remember that essay you wrote, first week?” He asked the ceiling, “My life in ten years?” 

Tino did, vaguely. The whole point of inviting the class from Denmark had been to improve both groups’ English. So one of the first things they had to do was write an essay and read it to the class. 

“I think that was the day I fell in love with you,” Berwald continued. “I wanted to be that person by your side so badly. I mean, you hardly mentioned them, you focussed mostly on the children and your day in relation to them but. Hm. I knew then and there that I wanted to share those moments with you.” 

“I couldn’t picture them,” Tino confessed. “Her,” he clarified, “ I couldn’t picture the woman by my side. I thought that one day I was going to find ‘the one’. The woman I would start a family with, just like Eduard had. But up until that point, I hadn’t felt anything towards any girl. That’s probably why she hardly came up in my essay.” 

Finally, Berwald turned to look at Tino. 

“Can you picture them now?” 

“I can,” Tino confirmed. “He is a tall, blonde, glasses-wearing Swedish man. So, let me know if you see someone like that around,” he tried to joke but his voice didn’t carry it. 

Berwald reached his hand out to Tino and Tino let himself be pulled up. 

“Can I kiss you?” Berwald asked. 

“Yes,” Tino replied, his voice breaking a little. 

The kiss was short and sweet, and Tino was aware that the others were most likely watching them, but he didn’t care. Not until the flash at least. 

“Why wouldn’t you turn that off, Mathias?!” Lukas asked exasperatedly. 

“They were backlit,” he defended himself, you wouldn’t have seen anything!” 

“If you had an ounce of decency you wouldn’t have looked in the first place!” 

“But Berwald, no one would believe me if I didn’t have evidence!”  
  
“I just followed the others,” Peter defended himself. 

“We know Peter, we’re not cross with you,” Tino reassured him. 

Lukas offered no further explanation but Tino was sure his stare was supposed to convey… something. 

“You’re on potato duty for that,” Berwald said, pointing at Mathias. 

The Dane grumbled a little but handed his joy-con over to Lukas who led Peter back to the sofa to continue the Mario Kart session with him. 

So while Mathias prepared the potatoes Tino and Berwald worked together on the köttbullar. 

After they finished their game Lukas and Peter set the table, enlarging it for their special guest. 

When they were alone in the kitchen again, Berwald asked Tino: 

“So, should I be glad Matthew isn’t Swedish, then?” 

“You should be glad I met you a day before him,” Tino let him know. “It’s a shame, really, I’ve never dated twins before… I’m joking oh my god!” He laughed, upon seeing Berwald’s shocked face... 

Berwald turned both red and back to the meatballs frying on the stove. In a bold move, Tino decided to stand behind him, wrap his arms around Berwald’s middle and lean his head on his back. He sighed contentedly. 

“Hm?” Berwald questioned. 

“Shut up, I’ve waited eight years for this,” Tino defended himself and closed his eyes. He didn’t care about the flash of Mathias’ camera returning. 

* * *

Inviting Matthew for dinner had been the right decision. Peter was happy to see his ‘uncle’ but ultimately decided to stay the night at Berwald’s place. Matthew, on the other hand, could convince himself that Peter was happy and safe with them. Tino hadn’t realised how well Berwald and Matthew already knew each other. They were on a first-name basis, which, from what he had told Tino the day before, wasn’t the norm in the company. 

When Matthew was ready to head home a few hours later he turned to Peter to explain to him one more time that this would only be for one night, and that Arthur would take him back to England late the next day. 

Peter wasn’t happy about that. Tears formed in his eyes and he told Matthew that he did not want to go back with Arthur. Tino’s heart hurt at the sight and he told Peter that if he wanted to he could have his email, address and phone number, so he could call or write anytime he needed to, and the others also offered theirs. And Berwald promised him that if Arthur did indeed get a job in Stockholm Peter would always be welcome. 

Peter fell into their arms and hugged them tightly. Then he hugged Matthew goodbye who promised that he would visit tomorrow after work before Arthur would take him back. 

  
“Let’s set up your bed,” Berwald told Peter when Matthew had left. 

The boy nodded while yawning loudly and took Berwald’s offered hand when he led him to the office in the back of his flat. Tino, for lack of anything better to do, followed them. 

In the end, it was Tino who, with Peter’s help, unfolded the sofa into a bed while Berwald collected the duvet and pillow. 

They quickly made the bed and sent Peter off to the bathroom. Just as Tino was folding the blanket back Mathias poked his head through the door and knocked on the frame. 

“I bought something. For Peter I mean.” With that, he presented a stuffed elk that was wearing a tiny knitted sweater with a flag that showed the Nordic cross in a garish assortment of colours and proudly declared ‘SCANDINAVIA’. 

“Where the hell did you get that?!” Tino demanded to know. 

“Gamla Stan,” he grinned. “They didn’t have anything just for Denmark, so this had to do.” 

“It’s _awful_. And that’s not even. That part is clearly the _Finnish_ flag. It says Scandinavia. Why would you make this, much less buy it?” Tino was appalled. 

Mathias just shrugged. Tino looked to Berwald for support, but before he could say anything his phone rang and he excused himself. 

It didn’t take long for Peter to return, dressed in the pyjamas Arthur had packed into his backpack this morning. His eyes grew big when Mathias presented him with the stuffed animal. 

“Is that for me?” he asked, eyes the size of dinner plates. 

“Yes,” Mathias told him. “The flag on it is a mix of all the Nordic countries. The coolest being of course…?” 

“Denmark!” Peter chimed. 

“Very good,” he high-fived him. “You learn fast, kiddo!” 

Tino just rolled his eyes. But seeing how Peter carefully held the toy made him smile. 

“Which flag is yours, Tino?” The boy wanted to know. 

“Here, the tail end of the cross,” he pointed at the section. “The Finnish flag is white and blue like that all over.” 

“So cool! Which one is Denmark?” He asked Mathias.   


The Dane proudly pointed it out to him, while Tino, struck by inspiration, perused the backs of the books in the shelves of the office. 

“Can I ask Lukas and Berwald too?” Peter wanted to know. 

“Berwald was on his phone earlier but Lukas should still be in the living room,” Mathias sent him off with a fond smile. Then he turned to Tino and asked: “What are you looking for?” 

“Something I can read him.” 

“Oh!” He immediately came over and helped him. “I’m not sure Berwald’s father would have… hang on.” He pulled on a book that looked like it had seen better days. The cover was yellow and the back was a light brown. 

“Is that…?” Tino asked. 

“Pipi Långstrump,” Mathias confirmed. 

“It looks _old_ do you think we should just take it like that?” 

Mathias snorted. 

“Trust me, Berwald doesn’t care about these books. I’ve seen him use a first edition of the Great Gatsby to even out a table. Bigger problem would be that the kid doesn’t speak Swedish…” 

Tino let out a (fake) offended gasp. 

“ _Please._ I’m a professional translator. If I can’t manage to translate a children’s book while reading it Berwald should probably fire me!” 

“Why would I fire you?” Berwald, who had clearly only heard the last part of the conversation, asked. 

Tino just waved his concerns away, they had only been joking. 

“Where’s the kid?”Mathias asked, “I’d thought he’d badger you about the Swedish ripoff Dannebrog.” 

“Lukas is explaining dual citizenship to him.” Berwald’s eyes narrowed. “Mathias. Why did mom just call me to discuss wedding plans? What did you tell her???” 

“Uhm,” said Mathias. “You’re not old enough for this conversation.” He handed Tino the book. “Sorry but I’m too cool to hang out with people under 28. Bye.” 

With that, he ran into the living room. 

“He knows Peter is still there, right?” Tino wondered. 

Berwald just shrugged. 

They didn’t have to wait too long for Peter to return. 

“Mathias just made me an honorary 28-year-old, with his 28-year-old power,” he informed them upon entering the room. “Does that mean I don’t have to sleep yet?” 

“Nice try, but no. I’ll read you a story and then you sleep,” Tino said. 

"Fiiine. What book are we reading?" Peter wanted to know. 

"Pippi Longstocking. Have you read it before?" 

"No!" 

"Well then, you're in for a ride." 

* * *

Tino woke up in Berwald's bed, again. 

That was not what he had planned. After reading to Peter he had planned to, finally, go back home. The problem was… he couldn't remember anything happening between reading to Peter and waking up in Berwald's bed. This time not even wearing pyjamas. 

He must have fallen asleep right there while reading to Peter and someone, he didn't need three guesses who, had carried him here. 

He looked to his left and found his phone next to him on the bedside table, and when he opened it there was one new message from Berwald waiting for him. 

It read: 'You fell asleep while reading to Peter. Didn't want to wake you up. Lukas has clothes for you.' 

Well, at least that part was taken care of, then. Tino would have demanded Berwald swing by his home so he could get changed before work. It was his fault for not simply waking him, after all. 

So, for the second morning in a row, Tino made his way into Berwald's kitchen. 

Mathias and Peter were already seated at the table, the Dane in the middle of telling the boy a story, while Berwald was once again stirring some eggs in a pan. Lukas was nowhere to be seen, but a quick check revealed the culprit. The coffee machine was still running. 

With a groan, Tino sank down in one of the free chairs. 

Mathias reached over to pat his head but retracted his hand when he responded with a low grumble. He only perked up again when the machine quieted, quickly grabbing and filling up two large mugs. When he turned back around to the table Lukas was right there, hand stretched out for his coffee. Thankfully, Tino wasn’t awake enough to jump or he would have spilled both beverages. He handed over Lukas’ mug and sat back down again before adding sugar to his own. 

Breakfast was a noisy affair thanks to Mathias and Peter, while the other three watched on amused, slightly annoyed and love-struck, respectively. Well, Lukas love-struck until a wild gesture from Mathias caused a piece of egg to fly off his fork, into Lukas’ face and then fell into his coffee mug. Then he joined Berwald in being annoyed at the Dane. 

Tino smiled into his own mug. Yesterday he had felt a bit like an intruder, but after what had happened between him and Berwald the evening before he felt like he was allowed to be a part of their morning. He picked up his toast and leaned on Berwald while chewing it. Tino had hardly gotten to eat breakfast with anyone in years. Ludwig had always been too busy to sit down for breakfast in the morning, and even though Gilbert had lived with them, he had slept longer than Tino every day. 

He could feel Berwald turn to look at him, but eventually, he just shifted so Tino was more comfortable and resumed eating his own breakfast. 

It was the best morning the Finn had had in years, so of course, it had to end way too soon. He got dressed in his borrowed clothes and they had to leave Peter with Mathias and Lukas again. At least he got to hold Berwald’s hand in the car, and that made it better. Berwald was silent, concentrating on the rush hour traffic so Tino decided to research something on his phone. 

By the time they pulled up on the company parking lot he felt confident enough to try. 

‘You, me, lunch,’ he signed. 

Berwald smiled and signed back ‘yes’. 

Tino leaned forward to give him a quick peck on the cheek and hen hurried out of the car. It wouldn’t do to be late two days in a row, even though yesterday didn’t technically count. 

* * *

After work, Tino once again drove back home with Berwald to say goodbye to Peter. During lunch, Berwald had taught him a few more words in sign language. 

Tino was nervous to see Arthur again, unsure if he could be civil with the man, but in the end, he didn’t need to worry at all, because it wasn’t Arthur that showed up to pick up Peter, it was Alfred. 

“Hey dudes,” he said with a little wave when Berwald led him into the living room where Peter had convinced Tino to continue reading Pipi Longstocking while they waited and Mathias and Lukas had joined them. 

“Alfred,” Peter shouted and ran towards him. 

“Heyy, squirt!” Alfred caught Peter and sat him on his shoulders. “Are you ready to go home? All packed?” 

“Do I have to?” Peter questioned with a pout. 

“I’m afraid so, Peter. Arthur is flying back to London tonight.” 

  
“But I don’t want to go with him. I want to stay here!” Peter protested. 

“Peter you can’t. You have to go back to school,” Alfred told him gently. 

“I’ll go to school here!” 

“You don’t speak Swedish, Peter…” 

“Actually there is an international school close to my flat,” Tino blurted out, and suddenly every eye in the room was on him. 

Berwald sighed. 

“There are a number of international schools in the city. I’m sure that’s what his brother was planning to transfer him to anyway if he planned for his future here at all.” 

“I think Matthew was the one looking into that, now that you mention it,” Alfred confessed. “But nothing has been applied for yet, of course.”  


“So I can stay?” 

“It’s not that easy, Peter.” 

Tino’s head swivelled over to Lukas, who he hadn’t expected to contribute to the conversation. 

  
“Remember what we talked about yesterday? How I had to give up my Icelandic citizenship when I decided to move back to Norway? I can’t stay in Iceland for more than 90 days now without getting a special permit. If Arthur gets a job here you and he will get that special permit for Sweden, but until then you can’t go to school here.” 

“We’ll be here if you come back, Peter. Well, Mathias and Lukas might be back home but. You have our numbers and addresses. You can write to us. Actually, I’d like to keep in touch with your brother too,” Tino told him. 

“The jerk? Why??” 

“Well, if he’s so willing to have you stay with other people for days on end I feel like they should at least not be complete strangers.” 

“He’s not that bad once you give him a chance,” Alfred promised. “Well. Not in _every_ aspect. He’s still pretty bad in some things. But not on purpose. I think. It’s definitely worse when he’s stressed...” He trailed off. 

“They had a big fight two years ago,” Peter supplied helpfully. 

“We don’t talk about that, Peter! It upsets him,” Alfred hissed. 

“Anyway, I need to drop him off at the airport now. Thank you for everything, I mean it.” 

  
And with that Peter was gone. 

“I- I should go too,” Tino admitted. “I haven’t been to my flat from Monday morning!” He laughed. 

“Actually, can you help me with something really quick?” Mathias asked Tino. 

“Uhm, sure?” 

“Good.” With that, he grabbed his arm and pulled him into the office at the back of Berwald's flat. 

He closed the door behind them and leaned against it, facing Tino. 

“So. You and my little brother.”  


“What?” Tino was confused. Hadn’t Mathias wanted his help with something? 

Mathias raised an eyebrow. Or, that’s what Tino assumed he tried to do when he made a silly expression and both his eyebrows twitched. 

“Oh. Oh, that’s what this is? He’s 25, Mathias.” 

“And? I’ve known him for 22 years and he has never dated anyone up to now. Hell, he barely even has friends!” 

“Wait. No one? He hasn’t had a single relationship?” 

Mathias sighed.   
“People don’t. People don’t react well to Berwald, generally.” 

He sat down next to Tino on the sofa. 

“What?” He looked at the Dane in shock. “Why not? He’s not the only shy person in the world!” 

“Tino. I don’t know how you do it but... Generally, people don’t read him as shy. Or just misinterpret every one of his expressions as anger, unless they’ve known him for a long time. And most people just don’t take the time to get to know him that well. They’re scared of him.” 

“Oooh.” 

“Hm?” 

“I was. I mean, for the first three days, back when I met him first.” He rubbed the back of his neck. ”I was scared of him. I spent the rest of the week trying to make it up to him… I felt really bad because I made him sad by acting so skittish around him.” 

Mathias clapped a hand on his shoulder. “I’m glad you gave him a chance then. He hasn’t stopped thinking about you for eight years you know? You really messed with that kid’s head.” 

“Again he’s 25- wait. Did- Did you say 8 years?” 

“Yep. Never got over you- What’s so funny?” Mathias demanded to know. 

“Oh, it’s just, Eduard has been accusing me of the same thing for eight years. I guess me and Berwald just had completely different ways of coping,” Tino explained. 

“Oh? Do tell.” 

“Well, remember how we met at the bar?” 

Mathias nodded. “You tried that awful pickup line.” 

“Yeah, and just a few hours after my boyfriend had broken up with me. Hang on, I got pictures,” he said while taking out his phone. 

  
This is Ludwig. We were actually dating for a while. Before him was Bram, here. Before that Ivan, big mistake.” He showed him his favourite picture of the Russian man, smiling while holding a Sunflower. “Then there’s Christoph, Gisil… I think you're seeing where this is going, right?” 

“They’re missing the glasses,” Mathias laughed. 

“Yeah. Shame I met Berwald before Matthew and Alfred, I’ve never dated twins before…” 

Mathias shoved him playfully. 

“Gross!” 

“I’m joking, I’m joking!” Tino laughed while swatting Mathias’ hand away. 

“I hope so. If you hurt him I’ll send Lukas to break your knee caps!” 

Tino held up his hands in surrender. 

* * *

“We kissed.” 

The first thing Tino had done after arriving at home was, naturally, calling Eduard. 

“What? Who?”  


“Me and Berwald,” Tino gushed. “We kissed. Yesterday evening! His mom is apparently already planning our wedding!” 

A long-suffering sigh was heard from the other side of the phone. 

“Tino, don’t take this the wrong way but… maybe you should take things slower?”  
“I did my waiting. Eight years of it.” 

“You- Fine. Ok fine. I’d like to meet him” 

“Do you want to give him ‘the talk’?” Tino chuckled, “Because his brother already gave that to me.” He wandered into his flat and dropped his keys on the kitchen counter. 

“What? No. I’d just like to meet your new boyfriend,” Eduard protested. “Before you move on to the next one.” 

Tino narrowed his eyes. 

“I’m narrowing my eyes right now,” he told Eduard. 

"I just want you to be happy. I sincerely hope this works out the way you want it to, but you don’t have the greatest track record...." 

"It will work out, you'll see!" Tino said confidently. 


	3. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is a smaller version of the drawing under the big one if you're reading on mobile!

You don’t turn 27 every day. In fact, you only turn 27 once in your life and yet Tino did not care one bit. Oh, it was still a special day, Berwald’s and his house was filled with people and they were still expecting more, but they were not here for him. No, there was something much more important than his birthday happening today. 

Breakfast couldn’t end soon enough, and Berwald teased Tino by pretending to start doing the dishes until Tino grabbed the car keys and Berwald’s coat and shoved him out of the door. He knew his husband was just as excited as him, of course, and soon he heard the car peel out of the driveway. 

Except for Eduard – who seemed worried that Tino would vibrate out of his skin – everyone disappeared upstairs once they noticed they were just in the way while Tino set the table for _fika_ later that day. 

So Eduard bore the brunt of being commandeered around while Tino cleaned and tidied up the already impeccable house. 

Finally, he seemed satisfied with the result, after straightening a wedding photograph on the mantlepiece. 

“Remember two years ago? When you didn’t think me and Berwald would last?” 

The smile on Tino’s face was radiant. 

“Shut up,” his cousin protested, shoving his shoulder lightly. “You know I changed my mind the first time I saw the two of you together.” 

Tino just stuck out his tongue. He glanced at his clock and jumped up and down in excitement. Blömma took that as her cue to zoom out of the kitchen and dance at his feet. He picked the tiny dog up and bounced her in his arms. 

“They’ll be here soon!” He announced, and walked towards the stairs to shout upstairs: “Peter, come downstairs, your brother is going to be here soon!” He put the now squirming dog down again. 

“But we’re playing Maio Kart!” Came the protest from upstairs. 

“Pause it! And bring your uncles too!” 

Not much later three blonde heads came down the stairs, joining Tino and Eduard in the entryway. 

_“I don’t understand what is so special about today anyway,”_ Peter complained. _“It’s not the first time he has been here.”_

“Swedish, Peter! You need to get better at that if you want to transfer to a _gymnasiet_ ,” Tino chided him. 

“I could go one that teaches in English,” Peter grumbled. 

It wasn’t the first time they had this conversation. Tino and Berwald wanted Peter to have a Swedish university entrance qualification rather than a British one since he would be living in Sweden for the foreseeable future. 

“You still need good Swedish grades for that.” 

That was what Tino would usually tell Peter, but this time the words didn’t come out of his mouth. No, it came from the most unlikely source in the room. 

“Did- Did you just speak Swedish?” He asked once he managed to pick his jaw up off the floor. 

“He been doing all day. Is annoying. Thought he on my side,” Peter sniffed. 

“Mathias!” Tino cried and tackled the tall Dane in a hug. “Thank you!” 

Then he tackled Lukas in a hug, just for good measure. It was pretty clear who had convinced the Dane to help Peter learn Swedish. 

The doorbell rang and Tino wasted no time to let go of the relieved Norwegian and wrench it open, only to come face to face with a confused 20-year-old Icelander. 

“Am I late?” He asked, adjusting his backpack while awkwardly shifting his feet. 

Shouts of ‘Emil!’, ‘Lillebror!’ and ‘Ice!’ erupted from the other occupants of the room, as Tino more or less forcefully pulled the younger man inside and shoved him at his brother, and then quickly closing the door behind him. 

“Sorry, I didn’t find the address immediately,” Emil explained. 

The house was a little out of the way, and this was the first time Emil had visited since they had permanently moved in. 

“It’s fine, they’re not here yet, Tino is just going a little crazy,” Eduard reassured him. 

“I can see that,” Emil shook his head a little. “I’m gonna drop off my stuff in the living room. Happy Birthday, by the way.” 

Tino just nodded a little as the newest guest wandered away, eyes now firmly fixed on the front door. 

“Holy cow! How did you fit that tree in here?!” Emil shouted from the living room, ad quieter “Oh, hi Blömma.” 

“Through the window!” Peter happily informed him, seconds before the sound of tires could be heard from the driveway. 

“Emil! Emil come back here!” Tino shouted, once again bouncing in place. 

The Icelander apparently knew better than to protest and quickly walked over to stand next to his brother and Mathias. 

Only seconds later the doorbell rang again, and this time, when Tino opened the door, a red-haired blur barreled right into him. 

“ _Itä, itä_! Happy Birthday!” The six-year-old shouted when Tino picked him up in his arms. “We brought allll my stuff, I really never have to leave again!” 

Tino’s smile grew impossibly bigger. Through the door he could see Berwald carrying a bag in each hand from the car to the house. 

“No Nils, you will stay here forever.” Tino hugged the little boy close before setting him down again. 

“Look, all your uncles and your brother are here to celebrate with us. And here comes Blömma” 

As if on cue the white mop of hair that was Blömma came to greet Nils, who eagerly petted her. 

“Are they here to celebrate your birthday?” Nils wanted to know. 

“The best birthday I’ve ever had,” Tino confirmed. 

Berwald sat down the bags he had carried inside and Picked up Nils and then reached around him to hug both the boy and Tino close, causing Nils to giggle: “Pappa, you’re squishing me!” 

Berwald sat Nils down and they led him and the others into the dining room where big banners declared ‘WELCOME HOME NILS’. 

Berwald had baked three kinds of cakes and pies for the occasion, that were now displayed on the dining table, waiting to be eaten. 

Mathias had insisted on putting up a clothesline, but instead of pink or blue baby jumpers, they were sporting green, Nils’ favourite colour. 

“Is this all for me?”  
Nils’ eyes were wide as saucers. 

“Yeah. You should be lucky. They not do this for me when I moved in,” Peter told him, looking a little miffed. 

“From what I remember you just decided one day to not go home anymore, kind of hard to plan for that,” Mathias reminded him. 

But Tino immediately went to kneel in front of Peter. 

“Peter, you know we love you just as much as Nils right? It makes no difference to us that you’re not adopted! You are our son and always will be!” 

Peter looked up at Berwald, who had laid a hand on his shoulder. Tears started forming in his eyes and he hugged his parents tight. A while into the hug they pulled Nils into it, and not much later Mathias joined them, pulling Emil and Lukas with him and Tino reached out for Eduard. Blömma weaved herself through their legs, eager to find the centre of the hug. 

* * *

“So, are we gonna eat now or what?” Mathias asked when no one showed any sign of wanting to leave the hug – except for Emil, who had been struggling the whole time, but Mathias kept him in place. 

“Yes, let us,” Tino said, wiping at his eyes. 

Nils took the lead and sat down on the most decorated chair. Two balloons declaring ‘IT’S A BOY’, that somebody, Tino suspected Lukas, had sharpied ‘if it wants to be’ onto, were tied to its backrest. 

“Where did you get this table?” Emil wanted to know. “It’s beautiful!”  


“I- er, I built it,” Berwald admitted, going slightly pink. “Wanted t’ give the new house my own touch.” 

“Whoa. That’s impressive!” Emil admitted. “I knew you were a learned carpenter but I’ve never seen anything you built.”  


“Haven’t had the space for it in a while,” Berwald explained, “but we set up a woodworking space in the basement. 

“His current project is some play equipment for the garden,” Tino smiled, squeezing his husband’s arm fondly. 

“I want a treehouse!” Peter announced. 

“Me too!” Nils yelled. 

“Let’s discuss that some other day,” Tino decided. “Now, who wants chocolate cake?” 

* * *

That evening, after Tino had brought the kids to bed and read them the now traditional Pippi Longstocking – but now in the original Swedish so Nils would understand and Peter could learn – he and Berwald were sitting on the sofa together. Blömma was sleeping by their feet and Mathias and Lukas had excused themselves a few minutes ago. 

‘Did you have a good birthday?’ Berwald signed. 

‘The best.’ Tino signed back, leaning his head on Berwald’s shoulder and yawning. 

‘I’m glad.’ Berwald signed. 

Tino smiled and kissed him on the cheek before settling back down. It didn’t take long until both of them fell asleep like that, exhausted from all the excitement of the day. 

* * *

Tino Väinämöinen was twenty-seven when he finally had a family. 

And it was all Berwald Oxenstierna's fault. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, all done, and with the beautiful drawing by PinkOtaku_223!!!


End file.
